Senators rejected Penguins trade offer involving a roster player
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Ottawa passed on a Pittsburgh offer for pick 25 that involved an unnamed roster player, per GM Steve Staios.
There's a small piece of draft day mystery floating around right now involving the Pittsburgh Penguins, and honestly, it's the kind of rumor that's fun precisely because nobody actually knows the answer.
The Ottawa Senators put together some behind the scenes content from their draft room at the 2026 NHL Draft, and buried in that footage is GM Steve Staios fielding a phone call from Pittsburgh.
The Penguins reportedly floated a roster player in exchange for Ottawa's 25th overall pick.
Ottawa rejected trade from both the Penguins and Canucks
Staios wasn't interested in any of the straight draft pick offers he was getting that night, including one from Vancouver trying to package two second rounders to jump up to 25.
But when Pittsburgh called with an actual player attached, his tone changed.
He told the room the Penguins offer was interesting specifically because of that roster player, even though he never said the name out loud.
That's really the crux of it. Kyle Dubas doesn't leak, and nothing about this deal ever got close enough to completion for details to slip out through other channels.
So instead of a report with a name attached, hockey fans are stuck speculating.
Some guesses point toward younger players who might not fit long term in Pittsburgh's timeline, others toward a goalie buried on the organizational depth chart.
None of it is confirmed.
Ottawa ultimately walked away from every offer on the table and stayed put at 25, taking a Swedish winger instead.
What it says about Pittsburgh's mindset
Whatever the Penguins were willing to give up is now just a footnote from a trade that never happened.
Even without a name, the fact that Pittsburgh was aggressive enough to dangle an actual roster player for a late first rounder says something about how the front office is thinking.
They clearly wanted to add draft capital and were willing to move a real body to get it.
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